Makinde, Abiodun, Buni, Yahaya, AbdulRazaq Reelected Govs, More Results Awaited.
Officially, six of the 11 governors who sought reelection in the March 18 polls held across Nigeria in West Africa have been declared winners by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to return to office for another four-year term each.
They are Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State, Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State and Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State.
Also, four newcomers have won governorship elections in the country β Umo Eno in Akwa Ibom State, Umar Namadi in Jigawa State, Dr. Dikko Radda in Katsina State, and Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto in Sokoto State.
Of the 10, eight of them belong to the All Progressives Congress (APC) while two are members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Sanwo-Olu
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was re-elected in Lagos State, polling a total of 762,134 votes to defeat Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party who scored 312,329 votes, followed by Abdul-Azeez Adediran aka Jandor with 62,449 votes.
He was declared the winner at 1:15 am on Monday morning, almost 48 hours after the electoral exercise commenced.
The election was marked by voter suppression, ethnic discrimination, political thuggery, and physical attacks on voters, electoral staff and security personnel alike.
Amid the reports, state Commissioner of Police Idowu Owohunwa had assured Lagosians that security personnel deployed for the election were responding promptly to the cases, saying βa lot of arrestsβ and βrecoveriesβ had been made.
However, LPβs Rhodes-Vivour expressed disapproval of the electoral conduct in Lagos, describing the process as a slap on the face of democracy.
Abiodun
Abiodun of the APC was declared the winner by Prof Kayode Adebowale, the state returning officer in the state.
Abiodun polled 276,298 to defeat his closest rivals β Ladi Adebutu of the PDP who scored 262,383 as well as Biyi Otegbeye of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) who got 94,754 votes and who has the backing of former governor and serving APC senator, Ibikunle Amosun.
βThat Abiodun Adedapo Oluseun of APC, having satisfied the requirements of the law is hereby declared the winner and is returned election,β Adebowale stated.
G5βs Makinde
PDPβs Makinde defeated his challengers including Labour Party (LP)βs Akinwale Tayo as well as a serving senator, Teslim Folarin of the APC.
two terms.
More Results Expected
Results of the other states are still being expected as INEC in some states has adjourned collation till Monday.
Governorship elections were held in 28 of Nigeriaβs 36 states on Saturday. The governorship and state assembly elections were held a week later than initially scheduled after a court case forced INEC to move them forward.
Eight of the 36 states β Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi, Osun, and Ondo β have governorship elections βoff-seasonβ due to litigations and court judgements.
In alphabetical order, the 28 states where governorship elections were on March 18 are Abia, Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara.
Of the 28 states, 11 serving governors sought reelection while 17 outgoing governors are in the final weeks of their constitutional two-term limits of eight years, having been sworn in on May 29, 2015.
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